If you're new here, this blog will give you the tools to become financially independent in 5 years. The wiki page gives a good summary of the principles of the strategy. The key to success is to run your personal finances much like a business, thinking about assets and inventory and focusing on efficiency and value for money. Not just any business but a business that's flexible, agile, and adaptable. Conversely most consumers run their personal finances like an inflexible money-losing anti-business always in danger on losing their jobs to the next wave of downsizing.
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Since everybody's situation is different (age, education, location, children, goals, ...) I suggest only spending a brief moment on this blog, which can be thought of as my personal journal, before delving into the forum journals and looking for the crowd's wisdom for your particular situation.

In an effort to reduce the outgoing mass of garbage, this being a good proxy for measuring ecologic inefficiency and by implication, economic inefficiency, I have built a worm composting system out of two plastic totes.

The two grey 10 gallon totes were $3.50 each (lid included) at the local walmart. We had to buy a 1/4″ drill to make the holes in the bottom. I assumed the size of these are critical since the worms eventually have to go through them. In retrospect it’s probably not that important. For the ventilation I used 3/16, which we already had. The worms we got on freecycle (the guy at local nursery was clueless). I dumpster dived for the newspaper, and the dirt I got from outside. To raise the working tote, I put it in the other tote on top of two beer bottles which I had emptied in advance 😀 I think the cardboard cover came from a moving box that had been left outside in the rain and thus was no good anyway.

I’m looking forward to seeing how this works. It is standing outside, so I worry slightly about the temperature, but we, that is, the worms should be safe for another couple of months.

15 users responded in " Build a worm composting system "

Do you really waste enough food to need something like this to dispose of it?

Jacob said,

@I think it will adjust (its population) to the amount of food I throw in there: banana peels, brown leaves, cabbage parts, ugly grapes, etc. As long as the incoming amounts are fairly steady.

Rachel said,

How about a picture of your creation?

Kevin W said,

My wife and I have been using a similar system for about a year. It works about as well as advertised. We now vermicompost nearly all household waste. As a consequence we are very conscious of the waste we can’t recycle ourselves, mostly inorganic packaging material and meat offal. Hence we bias strongly toward vegetarian meals and cardboard packaging, which is beneficial in other ways.

You are correct, they will grow their population to equilibrium with available food and space. Under ideal breeding conditions biomass will double in approx. 6 weeks, but maintaining ideal conditions requires vigilance.

Here in SoCal temperatures did indeed get too high in the summer. I overcame this by covering the habitat with a solar reflector intended for a car dashboard.

Make sure to follow the instructions about covering fresh food with bedding. Otherwise fruit flies will get out of control, which can be pretty gross.

One benefit you didn’t mention is that the castings (manure) are a potent fertilizer.

I haven’t had a chance to try this yet due to space considerations, but it seems like a great way to reduce your food bill for people that have the space and are willing to put in the work.

Ken said,

Also make sure you don’t put in more food scraps than the worms can eat in 24 hours!

You don’t want the food to start rotting and cause issues for your worm farm/colony/*whatever a group of worms is called*.

Jacob said,

@Rachel – It looks exactly like the one in the pictures on the link to the instructions except mine is grey. I’ve seen another one on the net that is blue. I think those Walmart totes (10gal) are fairly standard. Mine is now supported by four red bricks I got from M.

@Kevin – That’s good to know about the doubling time. I already have it covered under a big piece of cardboard with the plastic lid on top. I will burry the stuff in the bedding as well.

@Ken – Good idea about the cat fish. Yeah, the space. Maybe if one had an outdoor pond or something? The amount of food will be a challenge. Particularly since I’m not sure exactly how many worms I got (they came in a cake box with castings and a few vegetables, etc. already). I guess I’ll feed them every few days and if they have not touched the last waste I put in, I won’t put new waste down.

I can’t believe you actually bought something (and new!) at Walmart! Surely you could have found plastic containers and drill bits on Craigslist/Freecycle! You’re slipping, Jacob…

Just kidding… sort of 🙂

Jacob said,

@mjukr – Don’t think I didn’t try. Also considered using some large plant pots we had, but the totes were $3.50 … I thought they’d be over $10.

Judy @ Straw Cottage said,

I had a smaller version made from a dishpan that I kept under the sink. It was too small for a family of four. Now that I’m eating more raw, everytime I throw away fruit/veg cores etc I think of those worms. I may have to try this larger version.
Thanks, Jacob!

I would love to see a picture of this. In London we have to pay a hefty council tax to have waste removed and something like this would allow me to get smaller bins to reduce by bills. Thanks for sharing, would love to see picture and youtube video!

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